Tostada Pizza

Last week when I was in D.C., we went to California Pizza Kitchen for some lunch. I hadn't been to CPK in a really long time and forgot how much I love their Tostada Pizza. First of all, I always get a Tostada whenever I'm at taco bell (which was a lot during the college days) and secondly, I love pizza! No surprise that it was just as delicious as I remembered it. In fact, it was so good that I have been craving it again ever since!

So, I decided to make my own semi-home made version yesterday. It's pretty much just assembling all the ingredients on a pre-made pizza crust and simply popping it in the oven.

The only real "cooking" involved was opening up a can of black beans (I used the re-fried version since that's what I had on hand) and cooking it on the stove top a bit with some seasonings. I used cumin, garlic powder, and paprika to liven up the beans. I just eyeballed everything, but I'd say about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of each seasoning depending on your liking. I then brushed some olive oil on the pre-made pizza crust, and spread the cooked beans across the top. I topped it all off with some cheese and cooked it in the oven for about 10 minutes per the instructions on the pre-made pizza crust. I suggest maybe cooking the beans and pizza crust for about 5-7 minutes and then taking it out, adding the cheese and placing it back in the oven for another 4-5 minutes... just to make sure you don't over cook the cheese and still get a nice crispy crust.

While that was baking in the oven, I quickly whipped up the cilantro-lime crema. It's very similar to the avocado-lime crema I've written about before. Just blend together some greek yogurt with a handful of cilantro, add lime juice and salt and pepper to your taste. You may need just a teaspoon of water to get it all going in the blender at first.  The CPK version has ranch instead, but I liked the cilantro flavor. I was pretty much done... just needed to add some important finishing touches.

Once out of the oven, I added some shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and drizzled on my cilantro-lime-crema. I topped it off with a little more cheese, my new favorite - La Victoria taco sauce (or hot sauce), and Frito chips for the crunch! 

I think this pizza is great for us, vegetarians since it give us some protein with the black beans, and helps cut down on the cheese with more fresh flavors and ingredients. It's a super easy dupe to the CPK version. I'll definitely be making this again and again!

What your favorite type of pizza?